Chapter Twelve Network Security Data Communications and Computer

Chapter Twelve Network Security Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User’s Approach Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

After reading this chapter, you should be able to: • Recognize the basic forms of system attacks • Recognize the concepts underlying physical protection measures • Cite the techniques used to control access to computers and networks • Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of passwords • List the techniques used to make data secure Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 2

After reading this chapter, you should be able to (continued): • Explain the difference between a substitution-based cipher and a transposition-based cipher • Outline the basic features of public key cryptography, Advanced Encryption Standard, digital signatures, and the public key infrastructure • Cite the techniques used to secure communications • Describe the differences between the frequency hopping spread spectrum technique and the direct sequence spread spectrum technique Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 3

After reading this chapter, you should be able to (continued): • Recognize the importance of a firewall and be able to describe the two basic types of firewall protection • Recognize the techniques used to secure wireless communications • List the advantages to a business of having a security policy Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 4

Introduction • While computer systems today have some of the best security systems ever, they are more vulnerable than ever before • This vulnerability stems from the world-wide access to computer systems via the Internet • Computer and network security comes in many forms, including encryption algorithms, access to facilities, digital signatures, and using fingerprints and face scans as passwords Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 5

Standard System Attacks • Viruses – Computer virus – small program that alters the way a computer operates and often does various types of damage by deleting and corrupting data and program files, or by altering operating system components, so that computer operation is impaired or even halted – Many different types of viruses, such as parasitic, boot sector, stealth, polymorphic, and macro Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 6

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Worms – Computer worm – program that copies itself from one system to another over a network, without the assistance of a human being – Worms usually propagate themselves by transferring from computer to computer via e-mail • Typically, a virus or a worm is transported as a Trojan horse – In other words, hiding inside a harmless-looking piece of code such as an e-mail or an application macro Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 7

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Two popular forms of attacks: – Socially engineered attack – a bogus link in a web page that leads to no good – Exploiting known vulnerabilities in operating systems and application software • For both of these, software company issues a patch – Patch may fix it, or introduce even more holes • Either way, bad guys find new holes and exploit Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 8

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Very common way to attack vulnerability is via an e-mail attachment – You open the attachment and you launch the virus • Second common way to attack is to simply scan your computer ports while you are connected to the Internet (either dial-up or non-dial-up) – If you have an open port, hacker will download malicious software to your machine Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 9

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Other standard attacks – Denial of service attacks, or distributed denial of service attacks • Bombard computer site with so many messages that site is incapable of answering valid request – E-mail bombing • User sends an excessive amount of unwanted email to someone – Botnets • Malicious programs that take over operations on a comprised computer Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 10

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Other standard attacks (continued) – Smurfing • Nasty technique in which a program attacks a network by exploiting IP broadcast addressing operations – Ping storm • Condition in which the Internet ping program is used to send a flood of packets to a server Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 11

Standard System Attacks (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 12

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Other standard attacks (continued) – Spoofing • When a user creates a packet that appears to be something else or from someone else – Trojan Horse • Malicious piece of code hidden inside a seemingly harmless piece of code. – Stealing, guessing, and intercepting passwords is also a tried and true form of attack Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 13

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Other standard attacks (continued) – Phishing • Hackers create emails which look as if they are coming from a legit source when in reality the hacker is trying to get the user to give up ID and password info – Pharming • Hacker redirects unknowing user to bogus lookalike website Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 14

Standard System Attacks (continued) • Other standard attacks (continued) – Rootkit • A program that has been installed deep within a user’s operating system; defies detection and takes over the user’s computer – Keylogger • A software system that secretly captures and records keystrokes made at a user’s keyboard Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 15

Physical Protection • Protection from environmental damage such as floods, earthquakes, and heat • Physical security such as locking rooms, locking down computers, keyboards, and other devices • Electrical protection from power surges • Noise protection from placing computers away from devices that generate electromagnetic interference Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 16

Physical Protection (continued) • Surveillance – Proper placement of security cameras can deter theft and vandalism – Cameras can also provide a record of activities – Intrusion detection is a field of study in which specialists try to prevent intrusion and try to determine if a computer system has been violated – Honeypot is an indirect form of surveillance • Network personnel create a trap, watching for unscrupulous activity Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 17

Controlling Access • • Deciding who has access to what Limiting time of day access Limiting day of week access Limiting access from a location, such as not allowing a user to use a remote login during certain periods of time Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 18

Controlling Access (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 19

Passwords and ID Systems • Passwords are the most common form of security and the most abused • Simple rules help support safe passwords, including: – Change your password often – Pick a good, random password (minimum 8 characters, mixed symbols) – Don’t share passwords or write them down – Don’t select names and familiar objects as passwords Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 20

Passwords and ID Systems (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 21

Passwords and ID Systems (continued) • Many new forms of “passwords” are emerging (biometrics): – Fingerprints – Face prints – Retina scans and iris scans – Voice prints – Ear prints (? ) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 22

Access Rights • Two basic questions to access rights: – Who and how? • Who do you give access rights to? – No one, group of users, entire set of users? • How does a user or group of users have access? – Read, write, delete, print, copy, execute? • Most network operating systems have a powerful system for assigning access rights Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 23

Access Rights (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 24

Auditing • Creating a computer or paper audit can help detect wrongdoing • Auditing can also be used as a deterrent • Many network operating systems allow the administrator to audit most types of transactions • Many types of criminals have been caught because of computer-based audits Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 25

Auditing (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 26

Basic Encryption and Decryption Techniques • Cryptography – study of creating and using encryption and decryption techniques • Plaintext – data before any encryption has been performed • Ciphertext – data after encryption has been performed • The key is the unique piece of information that is used to create ciphertext and decrypt the ciphertext back into plaintext Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 27

Basic Encryption and Decryption Techniques (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 28

Monoalphabetic Substitution-Based Ciphers • Monoalphabetic substitution-based ciphers replace a character or characters with a different character or characters, based upon some key – Replacing: with: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz POIUYTREWQLKJHGFDSAMNBVCXZ – The message: how about lunch at noon encodes into: EGVPO GNMKN HIEPM HGGH Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 29

Polyalphabetic Substitution-Based Ciphers • Similar to monoalphabetic ciphers except multiple alphabetic strings are used to encode the plaintext • Example – matrix of strings, 26 rows by 26 characters or columns can be used • A key such as COMPUTERSCIENCE is placed repeatedly over the plaintext – COMPUTERSCIENCECOMPUTER – thisclassondatacommunicationsisthebest Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 30

Polyalphabetic Substitution-Based Ciphers (continued) • To encode the message, take the first letter of the plaintext, t, and the corresponding key character immediately above it, C – Go to row C column t in the 26 x 26 matrix and retrieve the ciphertext character V • Continue with the other characters in plaintext Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 31

Polyalphabetic Substitution-Based Ciphers (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 32

Transposition-Based Ciphers • In a transposition-based cipher, the order of the plaintext is not preserved • As a simple example, select a key such as COMPUTER – Number the letters of the word COMPUTER in the order they appear in the alphabet 1 4 3 5 8 7 2 6 C O M P U T E R Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 33

Transposition-Based Ciphers (continued) • Now take the plaintext message and write it under the key 1 C t e s v 4 O h b s e 3 M i e i r 5 P s s h t 8 U i t a a 7 T s c v k 2 E t l e e 6 R h a e n Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 34

Transposition-Based Ciphers (continued) • Then read the ciphertext down the columns, starting with the column numbered 1, followed by column number 2 TESVTLEEIEIRHBSESSHTHAENSCVKITAA Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 35

Public Key Cryptography • Very powerful encryption technique in which two keys are used – First key (the public key) encrypts the message – Second key (the private key) decrypts the message • Not possible to deduce one key from the other • Not possible to break code given public key • If you want someone to send you secure data, give them your public key, you keep the private key • Secure Sockets Layer on the Internet is a common example of public key cryptography Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 36

Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard • Created in 1977 and in operation into the 1990 s, the Data Encryption Standard took a 64 -bit block of data and subjected it to 16 levels of encryption • The choice of encryption performed at each of the 16 levels depends on the 56 -bit key applied • Even though 56 bits provides over 72 quadrillion combinations, a system using this standard has been cracked (in 1998 by Electronic Frontier Foundation in 3 days) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 37

Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 38

Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard (continued) • Triple-DES – More powerful data encryption standard – Data is encrypted using DES three times: • First time by the first key • Second time by a second key • Third time by the first key again – Can also have 3 unique keys – While virtually unbreakable, triple-DES is CPU intensive – With more smart cards, cell phones, and PDAs, a faster (and smaller) piece of code is highly desirable Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 39

Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard (continued) • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) – Selected by the U. S. government to replace DES – National Institute of Standards and Technology selected the algorithm Rijndael (pronounced raindoll) in October 2000 as the basis – Has more elegant mathematical formulas, requires only one pass, and was designed to be fast, unbreakable, and able to support even the smallest computing device Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 40

Data Encryption Standard and Advanced Encryption Standard (continued) • Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (continued) – Key size of AES: 128, 192, or 256 bits – Estimated time to crack (assuming a machine could crack a DES key in 1 second) : 149 trillion years – Very fast execution with very good use of resources Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 41

Digital Signatures • Document to be signed is sent through a complex mathematical computation that generates a hash • Hash is encoded with owner’s private key then stored • To prove future ownership, stored hash is decoded using the owner’s public key and that hash is compared with a current hash of the document • If the two hashes agree, document belongs to the owner • U. S. accepts digitally signed documents as legal proof (for some types of documents) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 42

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) • Encryption software created by Philip Zimmermann • Can be used to secure email and other data files • Employs public key cryptography and digital signatures Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 43

Kerberos • An authentication protocol designed to work on client/server networks • Employs both private key cryptography (one key both encrypts and decrypts) and public key cryptography (two separate keys) • Another free software for use in the U. S. • Many operating systems provide Kerberos for authentication of users and services Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 44

Public Key Infrastructure • Combination of encryption techniques, software, and services that involves all the necessary pieces to support digital certificates, certificate authorities, and public key generation, storage, and management • A certificate, or digital certificate, is an electronic document, similar to a passport, that establishes your credentials when you are performing transactions Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 45

Public Key Infrastructure (continued) • A digital certificate contains your name, serial number, expiration dates, copy of your public key, and digital signature of certificate-issuing authority. • Certificates are usually kept in a registry so other users may check them for authenticity. Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 46

Public Key Infrastructure (continued) • Certificates are issued by a certificate authority (CA) – A CA is either specialized software on a company network or a trusted third party • Let’s say you want to order something over the Internet – The Web site wants to make sure you are legit, so the Web server requests your browser to sign the order with your private key (obtained from your certificate) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 47

Public Key Infrastructure (continued) • Let’s say you want to order something over the Internet (continued) – The Web server then requests your certificate from the third party CA, validates that certificate by verifying third party’s signature, then uses that certificate to validate the signature on your order – The user can do the same procedure to make sure the Web server is not a bogus operation • A certificate revocation list is used to “deactivate” a user’s certificate Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 48

Public Key Infrastructure (continued) • Applications that could benefit from PKI: – Web transactions – Virtual private networks – Electronic mail – Client-server applications – Banking transactions Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 49

Steganography • The art and science of hiding information inside other, seemingly ordinary messages or documents • Unlike sending an encrypted message, you do not know when steganography is hiding a secret message within a document • Examples include creating a watermark over an image or taking “random” pixels from an image and replacing them with the hidden data Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 50

Securing Communications • So far we have examined standard system attacks, physical protection, controlling access, and securing data – Now let’s examine securing communications • One way to secure the transfer of data is to scramble the signal as it is being transmitted – This is called spread spectrum technology Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 51

Spread Spectrum Technology • A secure encoding technique that uses multiple frequencies or codes to transmit data. • Two basic spread spectrum technologies: – Frequency hopping spread spectrum – Direct sequence spread spectrum Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 52

Spread Spectrum Technology (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 53

Spread Spectrum Technology (continued) • Direct sequence spread spectrum – This technology replaces each binary 0 and binary 1 with a unique pattern, or sequence, of 1 s and 0 s – For example, one transmitter may transmit the sequence 10010100 for each binary 1, and 11001010 for each binary 0 • Another transmitter may transmit the sequence 11110000 for each binary 1, and 1010 for each binary 0 Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 54

Spread Spectrum Technology (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 55

Guarding Against Viruses • Signature-based scanners look for particular virus patterns or signatures and alert the user • Terminate-and-stay-resident programs run in the background constantly watching for viruses and their actions • Multi-level generic scanning is a combination of antivirus techniques including intelligent checksum analysis and expert system analysis Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 56

Firewalls • A system or combination of systems that supports an access control policy between two networks • Can limit the types of transactions that enter a system, as well as the types of transactions that leave a system • Can be programmed to stop certain types or ranges of IP addresses, as well as certain types of TCP port numbers (applications) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 57

Three Basic Types of Firewalls 1. Packet filter firewall – essentially a router that has been programmed to filter out or allow to pass certain IP addresses or TCP port numbers 2. Proxy server – more advanced firewall that acts as a doorman into a corporate network – Any external transaction that requests something from the corporate network must enter through the proxy server – Proxy servers are more advanced but make external accesses slower Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 58

Three Basic Types of Firewalls (continued) 3. Application layer – inspects all packets coming into or leaving a connection using the application layer of the TCP/IP protocol suite – Goes beyond IP addresses and TCP port numbers and inspects packet to see to which application it belongs Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 59

Firewalls (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 60

Firewalls (continued) Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 61

Wireless Security • How do you make a wireless LAN secure? – WEP (Wired Equivalency Protocol) was the first security protocol used with wireless LANs • It had weak 40 -bit static keys and was too easy to break – WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) replaced WEP • Major improvement including dynamic key encryption and mutual authentication for wireless clients Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 62

Wireless Security (continued) • Both of these should eventually give way to a new protocol created by the IEEE – IEEE 802. 11 i, or WPA 2 • WPA 2 allows keys, encryption algorithms, and negotiation to be dynamically assigned • Also, AES encryption based on the Rijndael algorithm with 128 -, 192 -, or 256 -bit keys is incorporated Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 63

Security Policy Design Issues • What is the company’s desired level of security? • How much money is the company willing to invest in security? • If the company is serious about restricting access through an Internet link, what about restricting access through all other entry ways? • The company must have a well-designed security policy Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 64

Network Security In Action: Making Wireless LANs Secure • Recall Hannah the network administrator from Chapters Seven, Eight, and Nine – Now her company wants to add a wireless LAN to their system and make it secure • She needs to protect herself from war drivers • Should she use WEP? • What about Cisco’s LEAP (Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol)? Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 65

Network Security In Action: Making Wireless LANs Secure (continued) • What about WPA? – If she decides to use WPA, where does she have to install the WPA software? • • In the user’s laptop? At the wireless access point? At the network server? All the above? • What about WPA 2? – Too new? Compatible software and hardware systems? Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 66

Summary • Network security continues to be an increasingly important topic, particularly with increase in network interconnectivity • Two most common system attacks are: – Socially engineered attacks – Attacking known OS and application software vulnerabilities • Network personnel and users must take physical protection measures • Controlling access to computer system and its network is an essential aspect of network security Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 67

Summary (continued) • Passwords and other ID systems are very common access-controlling security techniques – Passwords can be stolen and used by unscrupulous parties • Most computer systems apply access rights to resources of the system and users • Software that conducts continuous audit of network transactions creates electronic trail that companies can use when trying to catch malicious users • Providing security for system data is just as important as securing the system itself Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 68

Summary (continued) • Public key cryptography uses two keys – One key to encode messages – Second key to decode messages • Data Encryption Standard was created in 1977 and uses a 56 -bit key to encrypt data transmitted between two business locations • Digital signatures use public key cryptography and can be used to verify that a given document belongs to given person • Pretty Good Privacy is free encryption software that allows regular users as well as commercial users to encrypt and decrypt everyday transmissions Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 69

Summary (continued) • Kerberos is public or private key encryption technique that can be used by commercial application programs to verify that a user is who he or she claims to be • Public key infrastructure uses public key cryptography, digital signatures, and digital certificates to enable secure passage of data over unsecured networks • Steganography is study of hiding secret data within an unrelated document, for example, hiding bits of a message within pixels of an image • Along with securing network data, it is imperative to secure network communications Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 70

Summary (continued) • In order to secure communications, network administrators and users must be aware of standard computer attacks and viruses that can damage computer systems • Another means of securing communications is a firewall, a system or combination of systems that supports an access control policy between two networks • Securing wireless networks is a new and exciting field of study • A proper network security design helps corporate network staff by clearly delineating which network transactions are acceptable Data Communications and Computer Networks: A Business User's Approach, Eighth Edition © 2016. Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. 71